2004/2005 Lidums Australian Open

[george]

I am not saying Bill is wrong but the relevant values of IM and WGM can become a hot topic of conversation especially amongst women chess players - thats why I called him a stirrer not because he was necessarily wrong but in the world of Women's chess if you want to start an argument get a WGM who hasnt got an IM title and a woman who has the IM title debating the relevant merits of each title.

I know what FIDE say but in the case of WGM / IM Sedina she has both.

Regards
George Howard

[bobby1972]

the early entry fee (save $40) ends at the end of the month so a player list should be put here to entice late entries

[Garvinator]

the early entry fee (save $40) ends at the end of the month so a player list should be put here to entice late entries

there will be a player list at www.mtbullerchess.com and also on here in the mt buller announcements thread.

[eclectic]

from announcements ...

Hello Everyone,

Wasnt sure where to type this, so as it applies to all the mt buller tournaments, here seemed right.

I have done some research on the average daily temperatures at mount buller during january.

The average daily temperature is 16 degrees
The average nightly temperature is 7 degrees.

Some days/nights even have minus temperatures on average.

So my advice, pack your warm clothes. There has not been one day on record of over 30 degrees.

Website: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/avera...cw_083024.shtml

and how is the attendance thermometer looking ?



eclectic

[Garvinator]

here is a virtual tour of abom restaurant. It looked a little different when i was up there, but gives a good idea of the size etc.

http://www.dreamcatcher.com.au/panor...mbar/index.htm

[george]

Hi All,

I have been waiting for the early bird time to expire which it now has for the Open. I am preparing for the schools this weekend but on 6th December I will send ******** the updated entries. At the moment we have about 60 confirmed entries for the Lidums Australian Open Chess Championship which is about where I was hoping to be at this stage in the Entry Cycle.

Regards
George Howard

[Garvinator]

Hello everyone,

REGARDING THE LIDUMS AUSTRALIAN OPEN-

Due to the short time that the online entries have been available and some uncertainty regarding where to send mail entries to and who to make them out to, we are EXTENDING the closing date by one week till the 22nd.

This means that online entries can be made until the 22nd and postal entries must be recieved by the organising committee by the 22nd.

Cheers,

Garvin Gray
Mt Buller Chess Tournaments Organiser

[Garvinator]

The current entries for the Lidums Australian Open.

No 	Name                   	Feder	Rtg	Loc 

1. 	KENGIS, Edvins         	LAT  	   	2543
2. 	JOHANSEN, Darryl K     	VIC  	   	2485
3. 	D'AMORE, Carlo         	ITA  	   	2448
4. 	SEDINA, Elena          	ITA  	   	2431
5. 	ALANDI, Ennio          	ITA  	   	2429
6. 	BJELOBRK, Igor         	VIC  	   	2392
7. 	HECHT, Hans- Joachim   	GER  	   	2389
8. 	XIE, George            	NSW  	   	2351
9. 	JORDAN, Bill           	VIC  	   	2348
10.	II TEODULFO, Nones     	PHI  	   	2281
11.	SAW, Geoffrey          	VIC  	   	2278
12.	TIDOY, Pedro           	PHI  	   	2226
13.	REJ, Tomek             	NSW  	   	2225
14.	DRAGICEVIC, Domagoj    	VIC  	   	2122
15.	PECORI, Ascaro         	VIC  	   	2046
16.	MORTENSEN, Henrik      	DEN  	   	2030
17.	JACKSON, Ralph E       	SA   	   	2015
18.	SONG, Raymond          	NSW  	   	1995
19.	STOJIC, Dusan          	VIC  	   	1984
20.	SONTER, Matthew        	QLD  	   	1981
21.	BONHAM, Kevin          	TAS  	   	1980
22.	DIZDAREVIC, Mehmedalija	VIC  	   	1971
23.	CHAN, Jason            	NSW  	   	1957
24.	WONGWICHIT, Phachara   	QLD  	   	1947
25.	WALLIS, Christopher    	VIC  	   	1944
26.	PYKE, Malcolm L        	VIC  	   	1941
27.	VOON, Richard          	VIC  	   	1908
28.	LY, Moulthun           	QLD  	   	1881
29.	MENDES DA COSTA, Alex  	NSW  	   	1877
30.	HU, Jason              	NSW  	   	1873
31.	HOLT, Kenneth P        	VIC  	   	1860
32.	VAN DER WAL, Fritz W   	NSW  	   	1841
33.	ILLINGWORTH, Max       	NSW  	   	1839
34.	FROST, Peter           	VIC  	   	1831
35.	LIN, Zhigen Wilson     	VIC  	   	1819
36.	LILLY, Richard         	WA   	   	1818
37.	STOJIC, Svetozar       	VIC  	   	1802
38.	SILAS, Pranas          	AUS  	   	1800
39.	CHADWICK, Charles      	TAS  	   	1797
40.	TRUSCOTT, Tony J       	QLD  	   	1783
41.	SONG, Angela           	NSW  	   	1771
42.	TULEVSKI, Vasil G      	NSW  	   	1771
43.	VIJAYAKUMAR, Rukman    	VIC  	   	1768
44.	LEA, Tom               	VIC  	   	1765
45.	ALKIN, John            	QLD  	   	1762
46.	MURRAY, Russell        	VIC  	   	1755
47.	NEUDEL, Bernd          	OS   	   	1750
48.	STARK, Ken             	QLD  	   	1666
49.	GHOBRIAL, Adel         	VIC  	   	1659
50.	OLIVER, Shannon        	ACT  	   	1644
51.	DAVIDSON, Nathan P     	QLD  	   	1637
52.	BUCIU, Aurel-John      	QLD  	   	1633
53.	COOKE, Tristrom        	SA   	   	1588
54.	GUO-YUTHOK, Sherab     	ACT  	   	1578
55.	BECKMAN, John          	VIC  	   	1576
56.	BALDWIN, A(Tony) C     	NSW  	   	1413
57.	BAXTER, Craig          	VIC  	   	1338
58.	SCHON, Eugene          	VIC  	   	1279
59.	VIJAYAKUMAR, Rengan    	VIC  	   	1239
60.	GIBBON, Grahame        	NSW  	   	1130
61.	CRUZ, Prospero         	PHI  	   	    
62.	MERCADO, Levi          	PHI  	   	    
63.	TIDOY, Dennis          	PHI  	   	    
64.	VIJAYAKUMAR, Ariaratnan	VIC

[Oepty]

Have Meizes and Antic both withdrawn from the event?

How GMs will be playing at MT Buller?

Have Australia's top players, like Lane, Wallace, Solomon, Wohl, Tao, Smerdon, Zhao etc recieved an invite or any contact from the organising committee directly?

[Garvinator]

Have Meizes and Antic both withdrawn from the event?

How GMs will be playing at MT Buller?

Have Australia's top players, like Lane, Wallace, Solomon, Wohl, Tao, Smerdon, Zhao etc recieved an invite or any contact from the organising committee directly?

I have been waiting for this question for a while actually.

Miezes and Antic informed us recently that they are unable to participate. Antic due to visa problems where he had to go home. Miezes said his flights were getting to expensive to come.

We have three GM's playing plus a WGM.

Regarding the Australian IM's, Wallace and Wohl are overseas.
Gary Lane gave George his minimum conditions and after long negotiations, we couldnt come to mutually acceptable conditions.

George also recieved advice from respected quarters that offering ten prizes of decent amount would help to attract the aussie IM's instead of the usual appearance fees. So the ten prizes were offered. None of the IM's entered under these conditions.

We were informed by Charles Z that Zhao is unavailable, so we approached Solomon and Smerdon with what we could offer them and explained the prize money etc. They both declined. Smerdon due to exams that he put off after going to the olympiad. Solomon due to his family and late notice.

Agreed that it doesnt look too good to have only one of the six olympiad players in the open, but we were given only a very short time to get the players. With a longer time period, we could have been more successful.

An aussie IM placing tenth would recieve $500.

George Howard was the principle person involved in the negotiations and so more detailed questions should be directed in his direction at georgeshoward@hotmail.com

If any IM's are interested in playing and would like to begin negotiations, please email myself at garvingray@mtbullerchess.com or send me a pm on here. If you wish to speak to George about playing georgeshoward@hotmail.com

[Oepty]

What about Trevor Tao? Not a IM but just as strong as most of them. Also what about Sandler, Feldman, Ruejic, Chapman, Irina Berezina and of Australia's other IM's I might not have mentioned. It is a very poor turnout by Australia's top players. Why is what I am wondering. I wouldn't worry about only getting one of the 10 players who went to the Olympiad, I think the last open got exactly the same number. It is interesting that the zonal is attracting more of Australia top players, inlcuding Wohl. Wohl being overseas shouldn't have been a reason not to contact him but admittedly it might have made it harder.

[Garvinator]

What about Trevor Tao? Not a IM but just as strong as most of them.

Trevor Tao would have to pay his way like most players as he is not an IM. If we offered Trevor special conditions, we would have to offer similiar conditions to other players of similiar ilk.

Also what about Sandler, Feldman, Ruejic, Chapman, Irina Berezina and of Australia's other IM's I might not have mentioned. It is a very poor turnout by Australia's top players. Why is what I am wondering. I wouldn't worry about only getting one of the 10 players who went to the Olympiad, I think the last open got exactly the same number. It is interesting that the zonal is attracting more of Australia top players, inlcuding Wohl. Wohl being overseas shouldn't have been a reason not to contact him but admittedly it might have made it harder.

I dont like the fact that we have only been able to secure one of the top ten players, but if what you say is correct about penrith as well, then perhaps the IM's are asking for too much when it comes to the aussie open (runs away, expecting massive backlash to this comment).

I think Andrew or Alex Saint would be able to add more than I can about the approaches to overseas players as they were more involved in that area than I was.

As I said in a previous post, we are offering free entry for IM's, perhaps free accommodation and very handy prizemoney ($500 if you place tenth). We have three GM's for this tournament and enough federations(i think) so norms are up for grabs. So to be honest I dont understand why so many of the IM's are giving this tournament a miss, like they did at penrith.

[Oepty]

Wallace, Smerdon and Solomon all played in the last open, but they didn't go to the Olympiad. I think that with players having to pay almost all of their way to the Olympiad this time it would be very hard for them to afford the accomadation. Having said that, I don't know what conditions you are offering are.
I wasn't saying you should give Tao the conditions you would give to an IM, but to most spectators I would have thought it doesn't matter that he hasn't achived the title because he obviously is as strong as an IM.

I am not going to be crictical of the organising committee, hope I am not coming accross like that.

[Garvinator]

Wallace, Smerdon and Solomon all played in the last open, but they didn't go to the Olympiad. I think that with players having to pay almost all of their way to the Olympiad this time it would be very hard for them to afford the accomadation. Having said that, I don't know what conditions you are offering are.
I wasn't saying you should give Tao the conditions you would give to an IM, but to most spectators I would have thought it doesn't matter that he hasn't achived the title because he obviously is as strong as an IM.

Smerdon is unavailable, i think i mentioned that already, uni exams. Solomon unfortunately declined our conditions due to late notice and also because of family concerns. Alex or Andrew would be able to help more about Wallace as he is overseas and they had more communication with overseas players than I did.

To most spectators it might not matter, but we dont want to create more arguments by offering one person a good deal and then offering someone else of similiar standard a different deal. The general standard for Australian Tournaments is free entry for GM's, IM's, WGM's and WIM's.

There is no free entry for FM's. We have tried to be as fair as possible to all titled players, while still being considerate for each player and the tournament as a whole. This did include the large prize pool and the opportunity for norms.

[Oepty]

Norms would not be a consideration as far as Tao goes because he needs an IM norm from a round robin tournament not a swiss to get the IM title. I will repeat I am not saying Tao should get free entry or any other free conditions just whether the committee had tried to get him to play.